Ex-Johnsonia residents seek new fire probe

Sunday

Jul 7, 2013 at 6:00 AMJul 15, 2013 at 8:43 PM

By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Two years after the historic Johnsonia Building burned, nagging doubts about the cause of the fire and the thoroughness of the investigation continue to smolder among renters and condominium owners who lost their homes and possessions in the blaze.

Several are now calling on state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan to reopen the probe, which deemed the blaze accidental but was unable to pinpoint the cause.

The former residents point in particular to a sentence in the conclusion of the State Police Fire Investigation Unit report, issued two days after the fire, that notes developer Clark Straight was “up to date on all mortgages.”

In fact, Mr. Straight and entities controlled by him were at least a year behind on tax payments as well as water and sewer bills and owed the city more than $200,000 on the property, according to records.

A month before the June 2011 fire, Fitchburg Collector of Taxes Brian Doheny had filed a stack of liens for unpaid taxes on three-dozen Johnsonia units, including one owned in Mr. Straight's name. The other liens targeted units owned by New CMM LLC, of which Mr. Straight was the manager, or Johnsonia Condominium, the condo association controlled by Mr. Straight as the developer.

He had many of the unsold condo units leased as apartments.

The city had not yet submitted its liens to the Land Court for judgment and was in talks with Mr. Straight about a potential payment plan at the time of the fire a month later, Mayor Lisa Wong said.

The outstanding amounts have since been paid off, according to the city.

An insurance company paid out at least $6 million to the developer, according to a Housing Court case at the time in which the city sought to have some of the money held back in case the building collapsed before it could be demolished.

Mr. Straight declined to comment on the fire or the calls for a new investigation through his Worcester lawyer, Michael P. Angelini.

“As far as Clark is concerned, and I'm concerned, this is history. We've moved on. The building is down. It's not worth revisiting,” Mr. Angelini said. “It's very unfortunate, but there's not a shred of suggestion that there was any foul play by anyone involved.”

Despite the concerns of former residents, investigators from Mr. Coan's office and the Fitchburg Fire Department said they remain confident the fire was accidental.

“We were aware the landlord had a habit of letting the city chase him for taxes and water, but always paid up in the past. It is not uncommon,” fire marshal's office spokeswoman Jennifer Mieth said of Mr. Straight.

The roof collapse and concerns about the stability of the building allowed only a limited examination of the attic space where the fire began, according to the report. Mr. Straight, who lived on the fifth floor of the building just below the locked attic space, was home at the time of the fire, according to the report.

Fitchburg Fire Chief Kevin Roy, whose department was involved in the state investigation, said he was satisfied the fire was not suspicious and doesn't see any need to revisit the matter.

“We ruled out all other forms of ignition with the exception of electrical,” Chief Roy said. “Obviously, there was so much damage we never found the exact appliance that caused it, but we're very confident that it was electrical.”

Mr. Coan, the state fire marshal, issued a brief written statement noting that state troopers assigned to his office, assisted by Fitchburg police and fire officials, followed standard protocols for investigating a fire.

“There was no indication or evidence that the fire was intentionally set. The insurance company investigators concurred with our findings,” Mr. Coan wrote.

But five former Johnsonia Building apartment residents and condominium owners said in interviews that it has been difficult for them to move on. Several said they are still tormented by questions about the fire and the thoroughness of the investigation every time they walk by the grassy lot on Main Street where the building once stood.

Robert O'Hara, a renter in the building who lost much of his valuable rare book collection in the fire, said the fact that the city had started the legal process to seize the property a month before it went up in flames alone should be sufficient for authorities to revisit the investigation.

“The reason the investigator asked about mortgages, and rightly so, was because if you're substantially behind that raises a red flag. In this particular case, the owner was not behind on the mortgage, but was significantly behind on taxes,” Mr. O'Hara said. “The residents have investigated to the best of their ability, but their resources are very limited.”

Mr. O'Hara called on Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. to take up the matter if the state won't. A spokesman for Mr. Early said the DA's office would only get involved in a fire investigation if it had been deemed arson by the fire marshal's office.

The former residents, who blame Mr. Straight for the destruction of much of their property for keeping them out of the building for four months as mold and mildew spread, said they still question how the fire could be ruled accidental without a detailed examination of the attic space where it began.

In addition to the lack of mention of the unpaid taxes, former condo owner Thomas Murray questioned the report's assertion that Mr. Straight had “no issues with any tenants” at the time of the fire.

“Right from the beginning, there were supposed to be storage units in the basement,” Mr. Murray said. “He kept promising them and promising them. Some of the condo unit owners went to him and said, 'Hey, we want these things. We paid for them.' ”

Mr. Murray said he wonders, looking back, whether Mr. Straight was dragging his feet on converting the basement to storage units because he didn't have the money to do the work.

The instruments of tax taking on file at the North Worcester County Registry of Deeds show the unpaid taxes had been piling up for at least a year before the fire.

Mr. Murray and another former condo owner, John Flynn, said although the building is long gone, they still get a roughly $50 quarterly tax bill from the city because technically they own a small percentage of the land.

“On the two-year anniversary, I started having all these memories of the fire. I have to drive by it every day. It's basically a lawn now,” said former tenant Jason Simon.

He said he spent about $5,000 in legal fees to force Mr. Straight to allow him to retrieve, months after the fire, a valuable Steinway grand piano and other belongings from his apartment.

Asked if he was satisfied with the thoroughness of the state probe that ruled the fire accidental, Mr. Simon scoffed.

“Not at all,” he said. “There was no investigation as far as I was concerned.”

Independent fire investigator John Lentini of Scientific Fire Analysis LLC of Islamorada, Fla., said it would be unusual to deem a fire suspicious based solely on financial information.

He said the city's liens against the property might be a reason to take a critical look at the fire, but most arsons are easy to spot — as in the case when somebody pours gasoline throughout a room.

Mr. Lentini said investigators typically don't look for motive or opportunity for arson unless a fire has been determined to be suspicious because, for example, of the presence of accelerants such as gasoline, multiple points of origin or evidence of a break-in.

“If it's in a void space in an attic in an old building, that's a pretty common way for a fire to spread,” he said.

While that may be so, Mr. O'Hara said he doesn't see how the timing of the fire in light of the city tax taking could be ignored in the investigation report.

“If facts like these don't merit a 'suspicious' designation for a fire,” he said, “it's hard to imagine what would.”